1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to method and apparatus for controlling access to or from a facility. A gate or equivalent barrier to control entry to or exit from a facility is opened by passing merchandise purchased at the facility across a sensor. When the sensor detects indicia or equivalent encoded data that identifies the merchandise as having been available for sale at the facility, the barrier, which is normally closed, is automatically opened.
2. Description of Related Art
Retail and other facilities, such as entertainment parks or areas, have ingress and egress points that limit access to patrons. Often times these facilities offer parking areas for a fee and may additionally require a fee for access to the facility in addition to a parking fee.
In some cases, a parking facility is merely a paved or unpaved lot offering unrestricted access to a public road. However, in areas where real estate is expensive, or where construction of a parking facility entails burdensome costs to the owner or operator of the sales facility, it may not be feasible to provide unlimited access to the parking facility.
Various practices for providing parking to patrons of sales facilities are known. In one scheme, entry is unrestricted, but egress is permitted by personnel staffing an exit gate. Patrons leaving the parking facility after completing purchases are required to display sales receipts, vouchers, or similar evidence of being bona fide, paying patrons.
Some parking facilities have automated egress control. That is, the gate or barrier preventing egress is operated by a data bearing device, such as a magnetically encoded card which is inserted into a card reader. Recognition of the encoded card results in opening of the barrier. A number of variations of this concept exist. For example, in place of an encoded card, a keypad is provided at the exit gate. A patron punches a pre-arranged code, such as an identification number or alphanumeric code, to effect opening of the gate.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,637,920, issued to Glen S. Stratton et al. on May 12, 1953, discloses a parking facility in which entry is uncontrolled and egress is controlled. U.S. Pat. No. 5,498,859, issued to Johann Farmont on Mar. 12, 1996, describes access by a card reader.
Schemes for automatically reading a data record borne upon a motor vehicle are utilized by some municipalities to control passage of traffic. In most cases, the purposes of such schemes are to allow authorized entry, or to expedite passage through a municipally managed toll gate.
The present invention enables a facility having controlled access to operate automatically, in the sense that no human personnel is required to operate an access and/or egress gate. At the same time, access is restricted to paying customers of the facility. This is accomplished by scanning merchandise purchased at the facility as the customer accesses the facility. If scanning results in a determination that the merchandise was sold at the facility, then a signal is generated which automatically opens the access gate.
It is preferred that data encoded on or borne by the merchandise not be specially provided merely to expedite operation of the access gate. To this end, it is possible to utilize standard Universal Product Code (xe2x80x9cUPCxe2x80x9d) bar coding that has already been inscribed upon merchandise intended for mass distribution by the manufacturer for the purpose of assisting in standardizing and scanning of pricing, maintaining inventory control, and monitoring sales.
As an alternative, merchandise can be encoded specifically for use at individual facilities. Custom application of encoding for use at facilities can be accomplished through the use of non-standard bar coding, or by applying alternative encoding indicia such as a magnetized metallic strip or a multiple bar code configuration. With the use of a magnetized metallic strip, the strip may be de-magnetized upon exit from the facility to prevent the patron from re-using the product. With the use of a multiple bar code configuration, additional non-standard bar coding can be used for data gathering to track data regarding sales and geographic regional territory product distribution, or may be used for periodic security code variations.
In a preferred embodiment, equipment required at the access gate includes an optical scanner and connection to an automated data processing device having a memory which has been loaded with data corresponding to that displayed upon the merchandise. If the data relied upon is the standard UPC bar coding provided by the manufacturer of the merchandise, then it is possible that the data be entered into memory when initially stocking inventory, or in another operation which obviates necessity for a separate step of entering data into memory. In the alternative embodiment using a magnetized strip, the optical scanner will be replaced with a magnetic sensor, which may also include a de-magnetizer to ensure that the product is not re-used.
It will be seen that known components may be utilized in order to practice the invention. Automated access gates are known; optical scanners, magnetic sensors, and de-magnetizing devices are known; suitable automated data processing devices are known; and suitable algorithms for carrying out the necessary comparison are known.
The sales facility may, for example, comprise a staffed facility, having amenities such as a sales counter, cashier, and cash register, or alternatively, may be automated. For example, some or all of the sales may be conducted by vending machine. The sales facility could also comprise only that portion of an entire sales operation wherein merchandise is only dispensed. In the latter case, merchandise could be pre-purchased, or paid for at another location. The consumer merchandise may be obtained in the facility or exterior of the facility and utilized for entry to the facility or parking.
The facility may comprise a multistory structure, an unadorned lot, or may be part of the sales facility or still another structure, such as the garage of a building. Although access is controlled through a gate or similar structure for regulating ingress or egress, this does not necessarily imply that the facility have walls or other structure preventing access at points other than the access gate. For example, in an urban setting, the facility could be an unadorned plot of land surrounded by buildings owned by parties not associated with the subject commercial premises. Regardless of the nature of the parking lot or facility, it is most likely although not necessary that structure is provided preventing egress through an exit gate. The present invention combines these elements to arrive at a resulting novel system for controlling access to or from a facility.
Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to provide automatic control of access to or from a parking facility associated with a sales facility, responsive to determining that an entering or exiting party has an article of merchandise.
It is another object of the invention to provide method and apparatus for sensing data inscribed upon an article of merchandise and comparing the sensed data with stored data corresponding to stocked merchandise, having pre-loaded the stored data into memory, to arrive at a determination that merchandise has indeed been purchased at the sales facility.
It is a further object of the invention to utilize data which is customarily inscribed upon merchandise, rather than to require that data primarily utilized for operation of the access control be inscribed on the merchandise.
Still another object of the invention is to utilize data from standard UPC bar coding, and to utilize optical scanning of bar codes by conventional scanning apparatus.
It is a further alternative object of the invention to utilize non-standard bar coding or other encoding indicia, such as a magnetized metallic strip, to identify merchandise which can be used to control access to or from a facility.
An additional object of the invention is to utilize known components in carrying out the invention.
It is an object of the invention to provide improved elements and arrangements thereof in an apparatus for the purposes described which is inexpensive, dependable, and fully effective in accomplishing its intended purposes.
These and other objects of the present invention will become readily apparent upon further review of the following description and drawings.